Emmanuel Babled

Emmanuel Babled was born in France in 1967 and graduated in Industrial Design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. He started his activity as a designer in Paris and moved to Milan in 1992, city where he founded his own studio and worked for 18 years. Before settling in Lisbon in early 2016, he also lived for 5 years in Amsterdam.

Babled is working for 30 years in the creation of limited and exclusive series of pieces of furniture, accessories and other design objects – the Babled Editions, a result of extensive research on the traditional techniques of different craft districts around the world. This is an activity that he keeps abreast with the creation of projects, design consulting and curating for large companies and prestigious brands.
The Babled signature is distinguished by organic forms of exclusivity and excellence of materials, resulting from a work process that celebrates traditional techniques, respects the raw materials and the cultural and human characteristics of each production context. Babled challenges traditional methods to create relevant and innovative results. This often combines historical knowledge of the great master craftsmen with original compositions, created using digital tools that help to enhance the skills and industries in the regions where Babled works.

His approach to design is based on the idea that a good design is born from direct contact and physical presence in the territory of their production, through the observation of materials and techniques in the context of origin. The incorporation of human and social conditions, culture and specific skills of the places through which he passes are fundamental aspects of his work process and determine the final result.

The Murano glass is particularly prominent in Babled’s portfolio, as he is since 1995 dedicated to creating glass pieces molded by hand, in partnership with the legendary Italian factory Venini. The success of this collaboration boosted him to follow new explorations, working with Carrara marble, the lava of Mount Etna and the bronze foundries of Lombardy, all in Italy, as well as with traditional carpets and textiles of northern India and Nepal.

Emmanuel Babled's designs incorporate tradition, modernity, sacredness, consumption, craft production and sustainability. This unique combination gives a contemporary, poetic and transcultural character to his work. The Babled Editions are exclusive and limited editions, each piece is performed by great master craftsmen, numbered, signed and often customized to the end customer by Emmanuel Babled.

The Babled Editions always start with a trip and an immersion from the designer into the local culture of the place he has travelled to. The observation of the different contexts and indigenous knowledge of each region reflect the will of the designer to develop close relationships with local artisans and traditional industries. It is not just
the creation of a product, but a work process that is sensitive to sustainable production and incorporating environmental, social and human factors.

Given the revolution in distribution methods, the industry is no longer the only answer. Today it is possible to use and enjoy the virtuosity, wisdom and mastery of the craftsmen who give life to objects only produced in small quantities, but that may coexist in the global market. A potential that transcends the idea of "tourist souvenir" or trivialization of craft production, and focuses rather on the value of the objects made by hand or using traditional techniques. All valuing the revival and reinterpretation of historical knowledge, supported by the search of the essence and singular character that human gesture is able to give each object.
Emmanuel Babled likes to refer to the "proud craftsman" as someone who is responsible for many inventions and usually walks off the rails already plotted, to create more evocative and customized objects, far from the industrial standardization. The Babled Editions are born of this transition, where each object acquires particular excellence.

Since 2000 Emmanuel Babled has been collaborating with the Domus Academy in Milan and the Eindhoven Design Academy as a visiting professor and to develop workshops.

We would like to thank photographer Marco Sweering for Emmanuel Babled’s portrait, as well as photographer Stéphane Béchaud and photographer Yves Callewaert for the image of our studio.